Shoe-jack.



P. MELLEN.

SHOE JACK.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1. 1911.

1,0%2,3641 Patented 001. 22, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

O70 BY P. MELLEN.

SHOE JACK. AEPLIOATION FILED APR. 1 1911.

1,4Q,36 Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' HI h 7 J4 a 50 31 V V in.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR' ATTORNEYS FRANK MELLEN, OF NEW YORK,

SHOE-JACK.

Application Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22, 1912.

filed April 1, 1911. Serial No. 618,316.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK MELLEN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, Brooklyn Hills, borough of Queens, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Shoe-Jack, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to a new and novel form of shoe-jack. 7

An object of my invention is to compensate for the wear on the sole during the period of wearing the shoe.

Another object of my invention is to restore the resiliency, elasticity, stiffening to the soles of shoes under the instep, and to afford an improved resting place for the ball of the foot.

A further object of my invention is to provide a device for stretching the upper portion of the shoe, to hold the same taut and firm, and to prevent the upper of the shoe from becoming cracked or distorted.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a shoe'tree which will permit of ventilating the shoe while restoring the same to shape.

I attain the above-outlined objects by clamping the shoe upon suitable supports and provide a bearing member to fit under the ball of the shoe to press the sole of the shoe upward and curve the same, in order to compensate for the normal downward curve of the shoe after it has been worn for some time.

With the above and other objects in view, as will more fully hereinafter appear, the present invention consists in certain novel details of construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in all the figures, and in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of my invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a shoe partly in outline before it is finally clamped in position; Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the shoe clamped in position; Fig. 4: is atransverse sectional view taken strength and l firmly position in the plane indicated by the; line H of Fig. 3, and looking in the direction of the arrow, but with the shoe omitted; Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional View taken in the plane indicated by the line 5-5 of Fig. 3

and looking in the direction of the arrow;

and Fig. 6 is a perspective view showing the bearing block in detail.

In the preferred embodiment of my invention herein disclosed, I have shown a jack arranged for a pair of shoes, but the clamp ing device will be described with reference to but one shoe, .'tbeing understood that this arrangement, may-be duplicated for a air of shoes or for any number of shoes.

The device consists essentially of a toereceiving portion A and a heel-receiving portion B, connected by rods C and the shoe clamped in place by means of a clamp D. More in detail, the toe-receiving element comprises two spaced-apart toe abutting plates 7, between which is disposed a connectingblock 8. Positioned on one side of the alined plates 7 is a connecting member 9. Disposed betwen the toe-receiving portion and the heel-receiving portion and extending at right angles from said member 9, are pairs (in this case two) of parallel cylindrical bars 10, terminating in a heelsu pporting bar 11 positioned from the toe plate 8 a distance slightly less than the length of the shoe which is being clamped in the device. The member 9 is split longitudinally, as shown at 12, and from this longitudinal split, said member is again split vertically, as shown at 13, into which split sections are disposed and permanently fastened, toe-clamping straps 14:. .The toe of the shoe is placed against the toe plate 7 and is clamped firmly in position by means of one of the straps 14:. The heel of the shoe rests on the heel-supporting bar 11.

In order to clamp the shoe in this position, there is pivoted to the upper end of the block 8, by means of a hinge 15, a block 15 extending from which is a rod 16, upon which is adapted to slide a rear bearing plate 17 The plate 17 is adjustably positioned on the rod 16 and held in place by means of a thumb screw 18, by means of which the countersunk recesses 19 in this plate are made to fit about the rear counter 20 of the shoe to bear upon the same, to

the heel on the plate 11. This member is held in position by a strap 21, fastened to the" end of the rod 16, which strap has a series of apertures 22 adapted to engage a hook 23 inserted in the bar 11.

It will be seen by this arrangement, that the shoe is firmly clamped in position.

In order to press up on the sole of the shoe, there is positioned on the parallel bars 10, a sliding block 24, adapted to be positioned at any desired place along a pair of rods, and is held in its position by means of thumb screws 25. Positioned upon the upper side 26 of this longitudinal-Tymovable block. is a semi-barrel-shaped bear- The block is guided in position, to prevent rotation, by means of a pair of transverselydisposed pins 31 mounted upon. the upper edge 26 of the block 24 and passing through apertures 32 in a pair of grooves 33 inserted in a bearing block 27 adjacent opposite ends thereof.

It will be seen that by this construction, the bearing member can be located at any place under the sole of the shoe and can be' raised to any desired extent.

Having thus described .my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A shoe jack comprising a toe-clamping means and heel-clamping means, said means positioned apart by parallel rods, a sliding block mounted on said rods, and a bearing member mounted on said block and adapted to contact with the sole of the shoe.

2. In a shoe jack, a toe-clamping device, a heel-supporting bar, a block pivoted to said toe-clamping device, said block carrying' a longitudinally-extending rod, a heel clamping device slidably mounted upon said rod, and means fastening said rod to said heel-supporting bar.

3. In a shoe jack, a toe-clamping device, a heel-receiving device, and a bar extending transversely of the counter of a shoe and bearing on the top of the counter thereof,

' to firmly position the heel in place.

4. In a shoe jack, a toe-positioning member, toe-clamping means, a heel-supporting member, an upper-engaging member pivoted to said toe-positioning member, and means fastening said upper-engaging member to said heel-supporting member.

5. In a shoe jack, toe and, heel-fastening members, and a member having a top curved downwardly from the center thereof in two directions at right angles to each other, said member being'slidably positioned. between the toe and heel-fastening members, and adapted to force the sole of the shoe into a longitudinal and transverse curve in any position between the toe and heel-fastening members. i

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FRANK MELLEN.

Witnesses:

I J N0. A. HARTCORN, F. M. HARTCORN.

Copies of this'pacent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the"Gommissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

